Your Wish is My Command
by Countess of Cobert
Summary: This is a story of what may have happened if Cora hadn't lost the baby. It's essentially 16 chapters of fluff at the moment that may be extended at some point! All upstairs characters feature.
1. Four months: Close Call

AN: I've been planning this one for some time, and it's finally ready! I'd like to note now that every other chapter (the even nos) will be from the point of view of one of the upstairs characters, which will be noted by their name as the title, with the odd numbered chapters being Cobert. Every two chapters, one Cobert and one character one spans a month, apart from in one odd case, but I will make that clear in the titles too! Hope you enjoy, and reviews are always very welcome!

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"Are you sure you're happy?" The thought had been plaguing Cora all day. Robert hadn't seemed overly excited when she'd announced she was pregnant. And as he joined her in bed and kissed her sweetly on the forehead she couldn't help feeling he was a little distant.

He'd been worried all day that he hadn't quite convinced Cora he was excited at the prospect of her having another child. The truth is it had taken him by far too much surprise. Since he'd gone through the day he began to realise that perhaps he should have seen the signs, he knew them after all. Her increased interest in him in recent months should have been a give away, as should her vastly increased appetite and the lazy mornings she had been spending in bed when she wasn't busy organising this or that for Sybil's season. As the day had worn on he'd felt more and more guilty at not realising and taking some of her work.

"I'm delighted Cora. Absolutely delighted. You just took me by surprise early."

"You're sure. You can tell me if you're worried."

"I'm perfectly happy. And the doctor helped reduce the fears I had when I spoke with him earlier." Cora nods, twisting a finger in one of his button holes. She had predicted he might be worried. Sybil's birth and pregnancy had not been the easiest and with her more mature age she also had quizzed the doctor, but he seemed unworried. "I then began to think maybe I should have realised sooner, you've been showing some of the symptoms."

"Darling, it's not your job to worry about me. Besides, I was aware of the symptoms I just thought they tended in another direction, hence I tried to keep them from you. But some are harder to disguise than others." They smile as a blush appears on Cora's cheeks and her hand wanders to his bare neck.

"You're correct of course. I really would be a bad husband if I failed to notice your increased appetite for not only food." She blushes and looks down, Robert smiles, even at her age, she still blushes when discussing being intimate with him. "What do you mean by 'tended in another direction?'"

"Well..." She feels herself becoming uncomfortable. Robert hates all things medical, let alone female health. "I...did the doctor explain that I was...er..."

"Changing?"

"Yes, well. I thought, because some of the symptoms are very similar, that I might just be going through menopause and I didn't want to bother you with that."

"No, right." It's Robert's turn to get hot under the collar, and Cora giggles as she watches him literally twist his head from side to side as if removing the heat.

"Are you excited about being a father again?"

"Very much so. I'm also quite excited about being able to dote on you for the next few months, you deserve that."

"That's very sweet of you darling. If I remember correctly, you're quite the obliging husband when I'm pregnant. You do whatever I ask. Come to think of it, that's made the prospect of the next few months a lot more pleasant."

"You realise he, or she, shall be a December baby?"

"Yes darling. Do you think it will be a boy this time?" She looks up into his face, but she can't read his expression, he has a perfect poker face when he wants to.

"Who knows. I'll be happy either way, you know that. Besides, this baby is our little miracle, whatever happens." He hopes his face doesn't show his inner turmoil. Boy or girl he'll be overjoyed, this baby is definitely quite a miracle. But his subconscious can't help screaming in the back of his mind 'what if it's a double miracle?'

"It'll hopefully sort the Mary and Matthew situation if it's a girl. But I won't lie by saying I don't hope for a boy. I did always think I let you down." She says the words and immediately regrets them as a Robert pulls her swiftly into his arms and peppers her face with kisses, his hands drawing lazy circles over their unborn baby.

"Cora, you never, never, never let me down." It was funny, he mused, he supposed he'd always known that she hadn't quite let the thought of giving him an heir go, despite all the times he'd told her it didn't matter. But, hearing her say it out loud, that somehow shattered the conscious thought he'd always held, that it didn't bother her. "Besides, we have Matthew now, and he and Mary are so desperately well suited."

"Yes, but he's not your son. I would like to have given you your son. Your little boy with bright blue eyes and hazelnut brown curls." He kisses her on the forehead.

"I think I'd much prefer him if he had chocolate curls. They happen to be a favourite of mine." He kisses her hair repeatedly as if to prove his statement.

"Really?" Cora feels her resolve and coherent thoughts disappearing as Robert massages his hands over her abdomen and kisses from her hair down her cheek to her neck.

"Yes, really. Now, if the last few weeks are anything to go by, you're just about to crumble in my arms and demand to be kissed." She looks down at his chest sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, it's..."

"The baby. Besides, you're pregnant, your every wish is my command." His lips trace a pattern back up towards her mouth and when he gets there he finds her lips waiting for him, eager to be kissed.

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As she lay in the bath for the last second, soaking up the bubbles. She passes her hand gently over her growing baby. What would happen if it was a boy? Would Matthew marry Mary, she hoped so, they were so perfectly suited. And yet, she couldn't help thinking that the baby must be a girl. Why would God give her a boy now, when the problem was solved with Matthew, when he could have done so all those years ago? It's these thoughts that continue with her as she stands and, not taking hold of the edge of the bath, lifts her first leg to the floor. Or not the floor but...soap? Her thoughts don't process this at the time. They take the jump from Mary and Matthew to the wooden floor spiralling into her vision. She closes her eyes against the shock she knows is coming and one hand flies to her stomach. To her baby. But, before it gets there a sound grip grasps both her elbows, her head falling onto, not the black floor, but a black uniform. The next thing she hears is her cries, not cries of pain but shock. Shock at being saved she thinks, or maybe shock at the thoughts of the things that might have occurred if O'Brien had not been there for her.

"M'lady, are you alright? You're not hurt?" Cora only shakes her head from side to side and gently lifting herself from her maid stands upright. The maid is blurred before her thanks to the tears that still spill over her eyes.

"Fine. Just a little shocked. I need to lie down for a moment, can you pass me the towel?" O'Brien passes her the required object and she quickly wraps it around her.

"I think I should call the doctor m'lady, just in case." She nods blindly and half stumbles to the door, images of the pool of blood the wooden floor may have been swimming before he eyes. Thankfully she can feel O'Brien's hand on her elbow, steering her safely to the bed.

She's dimly aware of the doctor coming and passing his verdict, she and the baby are fine, before leaving her some medicine to help her sleep that night. She is also aware of Robert's presence by her side for most of the evening, but all her thoughts see is the hazelnut haired boy blurring into a pool of blood. As the medication hits her system after she's eaten whatever it was Robert spooned to her, her thoughts finally become empty.

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Robert doesn't sleep at all that night. He just watches Cora in her seemingly dream free slumber. O'Brien had given him a account of what happened but he couldn't work out what was upsetting Cora, she was fine, the baby was fine. Shock he supposed and just being pregnant may be getting to her. He couldn't help thinking it was his fault. He shouldn't be letting her do so much and have to take a hurried bath like that. His thoughts return to London and how hard she'd worked for Sybil, he wasn't going to let that happen again, she had to be relaxed, for the sake of her health because Robert knew, deep down, that was what mattered, Cora. If the crunch came and the doctor had to ask him to choose in December whether he wanted the woman before him or the unborn child, he'd choose Cora every day, any day. She stirs beside him and Robert dimly realises it's the morning.

"How are you feeling?" He says the words the moment her eyes open.

"Fine, thank you. I think I scared everyone yesterday. I really am fine. It was just a fright."

"A fright it may have been, but from now on you are doing a lot less and are going to spend plenty of time resting."

"Oh, Robert. Don't do that, you know how I hate sitting around. It was an accident, not due to my tiredness."

"I'm not stopping you from doing anything, I don't want you sitting around. I just don't want you to rush to make it down to dinner and such like. Take as long as you like, it's more important that you're safe."

"And no doubt that means you're now going to start walking me up and down the stairs and reminding me of where all the carpets are placed so I don't trip on the edge of one of them?"

"Exactly." She groans.

"Oh, not all that again. I know you did it when I was pregnant the first time, but this is number four in case you'd forgotten. Besides I'm not a child."

"I haven't forgotten and you are not a child but it's been a long time since last time. Just indulge me, just a little Cora. It's so important to me that you're alright." Cora can't help smiling at the sweetness of it all, she reaches forward and brushes his cheek.

"Well, if I indulge you in these little things, you will have to do what I ask of you."

"I never said I wouldn't. In fact, the other night I said that your wish was my command, that still stands."

"Good, I'm pleased about that as there something I'm rather in need of." Her hands have already unbuttoned his whole shirt and Robert sighs. It's very fortunate, he thinks, that he loves her so very much because no doubt over the next few months he's going to be sent on plenty of errands and he's knows form experience that not all of them are as nice as this one.


	2. Four months: Violet

AN: I'd like to thank everyone for their lovely reviews. I think I messaged most of you, but I wanted to mention it here because it was the most reviews I've ever had for a single chapter, so that really means a very great deal! Thank you to all of you, and here is Violet, the first of my character chapters! Enjoy!

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Violet can't help observing her son and daughter-in-law as they make their way around the guests at the garden party. She finds their behaviour vulgar, totally below their station. Yes, she's happy that Cora's pregnant, but the feeling lies within her, never, ever would she tell anyone that. A forty-something year old woman of Cora's station, pregnant, the gossip that was already arriving from various letters she received was worrying. The news had shocked Violet, of course it had, she hoped, rather than believed, that her son had given up that intimacy with his wife. He slept with her she knew but she had always hoped sleep was all there was to it, but it seemed not. She began to get used to the idea as the month had gone on but as she observed them in the corner of the garden all she wanted to do was send Robert to his room without dinner.

He seemed to persist on rubbing her back constantly and standing pressed against her every time they were talking to anyone. And when they weren't talking to anyone they were clustered together under the tree, beneath which to Violet's knowledge they had kissed twice during the hour they'd been outside. Cora regularly seemed to have a blush flushing her cheeks, so goodness only knows what he was saying to her. At one point he even kissed her gently on her neck in front of a couple Violet couldn't place from the distance she was from them. It was all so soppy and embarrassing. Then, a few minutes earlier Robert had almost forced her to sit down, Violet knew he was forcing her as she scowled the whole time, he then spent what must have been five minutes rearranging the cushions behind her back and collecting blankets for her legs.

She turns her gaze away from them as Robert sits down by her side and takes her hand, goodness only knows what they might do next.

"My lords, ladies and gentleman. May I have your attention?" Violet turns sharply towards the voice she thought was occupied with his delicate wife. "Because, I very much regret to announce that we are at war with Germany." Violet distantly processes the horror of the words just read before her and she is not oblivious to the deathly silence that falls over the crowd but the thing she really focuses on is the resolve in Robert's eyes as he reads the telegram to the crowd. A resolve to go to war, to fight for his country whatever the cost, she's fully aware he'd die for his country if he had to. She sees the glance he gives Cora, a sting of regret etched in his eyes. She watches the way he turns away from her and walks towards the house. She senses rather than sees the look of terror on Cora's face and their eyes meet, the younger woman's eyes plead with hers. She follows Robert to the house, easily keeping a pace behind him despite her more mature age. She has to do this for Cora, she knows what Cora is like it without him, he'd been to war before and she'd watched the woman suffer. She wasn't going to let that happen again at least not while Cora was in such a delicate condition.

"Robert." He spins on his heels in the entrance hall as she barks his name, it echoes perfectly off the columns of the empty house. "Don't even think about volunteering."

"Mama, I have to."

"Maybe. But not yet. Cora is pregnant, you owe it to her to be here at least until the baby is born. She, nor I, will prevent you from signing up when the baby is here. But she needs you, she might not say it, but she does. You are the father of her unborn child, you contributed to the condition she's in, you should stay."

"Mama. Cora has coped before, she is a grown woman as she reminds me daily."

"Not surprisingly seeing as you seem to be the most over protective father to be I've ever seen."

"I have to go Mama. I have a duty. But you wouldn't understand that, you're a woman. Men fight to save their women, well, I'm going to fight to keep safe all my women and there's a lot of you, other men shouldn't do it for me."

"I know that's why you want to go. But you'll save the most important woman if you stay here. She's fighting a never ending battle being pregnant at her age, you know that as well as I. Fighting might be your duty, but hers is to deliver that child safely."

"Please don't go on about duty Mama. The child Cora carries was not conceived out of duty."

"I'm far too aware of that fact thank you very much. But the point remains. You contributed, you stay."

"Mama-" she sees the plea in his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Don't even think about it. She is vulnerable, as we've already seen once. She fell apart when you weren't here last time, don't so it again, not while you don't have to and certainly not while she's the most vulnerable she's been in her whole life. Even if the slightest thing happens to you, three people will die, I can guarantee. Cora would never make it if she thought there was a chance you were gone, not in her condition, so neither will the baby. On the other hand, we both know this birth will be difficult and there's a chance she won't make it. What if she were to die, would you ever forgive yourself if you weren't here?" Violet knows her words are harsh but when she sees her son look at the ground, a crease forming between his brows she knows she's got him. He could never leave a vulnerable Cora. She sees him take a deep breath and he brushes past her back to the garden party. Back to Cora.

She follows him at a slow pace down the garden, it doesn't surprise her that Cora has stood and comes to meet him. Violet sees the water sparkling on her cheeks from the distance she is from them. She sees Robert say something before wiping the sparkling facets of water from her face. She watches as Cora smiles and wraps her arms tightly around his neck her lips pressed to his. For the first time, in all the years of watching these two together, her stomach doesn't churn at the sight of them kissing, rather her heart leaps. It occurs to Violet that no doubt Robert has said he's not going to go to war which is in many ways a lie, but she equally knows Cora is probably aware that the statement her husband has just given her only lies true until the baby is born. They separate and he watches him slide his hand into Cora's before they stroll towards the tent once more.

When Robert isn't watching Cora, some considerable time later, due to his over protective nature, her eyes catch Cora's and she sees the younger woman mouth a thank you. She's surprised to find herself nodding in return, a single glittering facet of water lying on her own cheek.


	3. Five months: Names

Robert had come to terms with what his mother had said to him a month ago. He had realised that she was right, he shouldn't sign up until the baby was born. The look on Cora's face as he'd exited the house and walked back to the garden party had been enough. The desperate kiss she had given him and the terrified look in her eyes that seemed to him to look as though she thought he'd already called and offered his services had terrified him, had bought him back down from the pride that had consumed him when he'd read the telegram. His mother's words had scarred him definitely, the thought of Cora dead terrifies him more than war, but the look in Cora's eyes had penetrated his soul.

Cora was relieved, she'd never deny that, at the thought of Robert staying home and away from the front. But she knew it wouldn't last, she was well aware, despite him not having explicitly said so, that he was going to sign up once the baby was born. He was going to leave her when her baby was tiny, but at least she thought, I will have the baby, something to liven my spirits.

Robert takes her by surprise when he walks up behind her as she looks in the mirror and encircles his hands around her, his fingers drawing circles over the very tiny, invisible, unless you ran your hands over it, bump of their growing baby. His lips tickling at her neck.

"We should start thinking about names."

"Cora, I think that's a little early." She twists in his arms to face him.

"I don't think so. Not with how long it took us to come up with names the other three times." He grins and kisses her lightly on the nose as she wiggles from his grasp and walks to the bed, carefully climbing under the covers. He walks to his side and takes a blanket form the pile at the end of her bed as he does so. Before he settles himself in the bed he unfolds the blanket and puts it on her side of the bed, pulling the whole set of bedcovers and sheets higher. "Robert, really. I don't need the blankets. It's the middle of August, they just make me over hot."

"I know that's not true, the other night you awoke shivering."

"Only because we'd fallen asleep wrapped around each other, only for you to move during the night, leaving me without the extra body heat."

"It was hardly my fault. If you hadn't been so needy and ripped all my clothes off, followed by your own we would never have been naked or wrapped around each other."

"Seeing as I'm the one who's pregnant, everything is your fault until the baby is born, you know that." Her teasing voice makes Robert roll his eyes, something he rarely does. But he nods and climbs slowly into bed, not complaining as Cora throws the blanket to the end of the bed. "So, back to the names. Let's start with a girl seeing as we have a few less options than we did the first time." Robert chuckles.

"Yes, quite. We used Mary, Edith, Sybil, Josephine, Louise and Sybil has your name for her middle name. We could use Anne of Margaret maybe." He doesn't like to say that he hasn't thought about girls names, he knows he should have done but he hasn't, he supposed he's still, very deep down imagining the little boy Cora described a month ago. It didn't bother him, it really didn't, but if Cora wanted a little boy he rather hoped it might be one, for her, not for him.

"Umm Margaret Anne Crawley is a pretty name. But, it has the same first letter as Mary, I'm not sure that's a good thing."

"The other way around then: Anne Margaret Crawley." They look at each other and they both shake their heads. "It just doesn't have the right ring, does it?"

"No, no it doesn't." She starts counting on her fingers backwards and forwards, mouthing things, but Robert can't work out what she's doing, no doubt she will explain all. She repeats the process again and then looks up, her eyes shining. "It has to begin with K."

"Why?"

"Well, because, the number of letters between, not including M and S, for Mary and Sybil is five. Therefore this baby, if it is a girl should have a name beginning with the sixth letter after E, so there are five letters between this little girl's initial and Edith's." Robert slowly hums his alphabet to himself and when he realises Cora is correct he beams.

"That's a great idea, my darling, very clever, but then I shouldn't be surprised. But, what names do we like that begin with K?" He spies her slight blush at his compliment and he's relieved, he had secretly hoped she'd noticed it.

"Well, there's Katherine, we could call her Katie for short. Katherine Margaret Crawley might be quite nice."

"Yes, I like that, particularly Katie for a nickname, although I'm not sure the other girls will appreciate that, they don't have nicknames."

"No, but their names are all considerably shorter." That name thus decided there's a pause in conversation, each of them waiting for the other to bring up the subject of boys names, neither of them wishing to put forward their first thoughts in case the other doesn't agree. Because, in this case, they both have ideas, lots of them. "I think you should start darling, boys names is your thing, and you know what the family would like."

"Cora, this isn't about the family, this is about us." It infuriates him, that still, his lovely wonderful, independent Cora thinks it will bother him if he upsets his family. Not only is it her family as well, but she has every right to choose a name for the baby, she's the one carrying it after all.

"I'm sorry, I'm just, he'll be your heir and I don't want to upset anyone."

"I was thinking of William perhaps. It's not actually a family name, but I rather like it." He looks to Cora for approval and she nods. "There's always James and Patrick which as you know are family names. But, as both those people were meant to be the Earl and they are both now dead, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable naming the baby after either of them."

"No, quite. I like William. It's a strong masculine name, but it will suit a little boy too."

"Did you have any ideas?" He knows she does by the way she looks at the sheet she twiddles between her fingers. Obviously she thinks I won't approve, he sighs. "Cora, tell me."

"I don't think there's any need to, I like William. And seeing as that's the only name you've come up with I presume you've put some thought into this."

"Cora, I want this to be a joint decision. It can not be a joint decision if we don't discuss other options." She sighs and looking down mumbles the name that's been racing in her mind for the past few weeks, the name that had ricocheted in her mind all those years ago when she'd been pregnant with each of her girls.

"Edward. Edward Robert Crawley." Robert strains his ears but manages to catch the name that falls from Cora's lips. 'Edward' he turns the name over in his mind, it sounds quite perfect. 'Edward Earl of Grantham.' "You don't like it?" Robert looks up startled, in his musings he'd forgotten to reply to her.

"Quite the opposite darling. I was saying it in my mind. 'Edward Earl of Grantham' has a perfect ring. Better than William anyway."

"You better not be saying that just because I like it."

"Cora, why would I do that. I like it, it sounds perfect. And the picture of the little boy you dream of with the hazelnut curls fits perfectly with the name Edward."

"William for his second name perhaps? Unless of course, you want to use your own, I assumed you might."

"No, I'd rather not. We only gave Sybil your name for her middle one because we thought it fitting. She looked so very like you, and you almost died. I had to name her while I was still unsure you'd make it. I thought it was right to have you honoured in her name and the family agreed. Although, if I remember correctly you were a little less pleased when I told you."

"Yes, well, that's beside the point. Do we agree on Edward William?"

"Yes. Your wish is my command, Edward William Crawley or Katherine Margaret Crawley it is." He leans over and rubs his hands over the little bump again. Cora smiles as his hands rub their baby once more. He really is so very attached to the unborn child, boy or girl.


	4. Five months: Mary

AN: Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews! I'm amazed how much people like this, it's quite shocked me! Thanks for all the favourites and follows too. This chapter is a little angsty but I threw some Cobert goodness into the middle! Hope you like it, and as you all know a review means an awful lot!

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Mary sat in the hall a book in hand, but she wasn't reading it. Her thoughts drifted to Matthew, the war and back again. She wasn't totally sure in her mind if she regretted turning him down. She hadn't at the time, it was possible he was going to lose the earldom after all, and she really wasn't convinced, despite how much she loved him, that she'd be able to cope in a life she'd never experienced, a life so far apart from what she was used to. She knew her mother and her grandmother disagreed, they both seemed to think that love was worth sacrificing everything for but she wasn't convinced. Yes, she saw how happy her parents were, goodness the baby was growing proof, as was the disastrous attachment between the two of them, particularly since Mama's condition had been announced, her father didn't leave her side. But somehow even that didn't totally convince her that she'd have that with Matthew. Her mother had position and love. If she married Matthew, or accepted him, there was a fifty percent chance she'd only have one of those things. Was love worth the sacrifice?

She had been quite convinced that she had made the right decision, or at least that had been the case until that fateful garden party. War. The word still rang in her ear, as did Matthew's announcement that he had volunteered and was going to training. It was where he was now, training, training to fight for this country. While she, what was she going to do, sit around, make calls, worry about him and have to watch her parents daily looks of love, the touching, even the kissing. Her father regularly rubbed his hands gently over her mother's abdomen and murmured things in her mother's ear that bought a blush to her cheeks. It made Mary queasy and she often retired to bed early, sick of their shows of affection. Shows of affection she was quickly realising she was jealous of because she wanted them and, now, after her decision she was never going to have them.

She hears the gentle murmur of voices at the top of the staircase, they break her from her thoughts and she looks up hoping to see one of her sisters. But alas, luck is not on her side. Her parents descend the stairs, her father clasping tightly to one of her mother's hands, the other resting on the small of her back.

"Robert, really, I am still perfectly capable of walking down the stairs without assistance."

"You promised me you'd indulge me. I just don't want you tripping. I don't want you or our little miracle hurt." Mary rolls her eyes in disgust and dropping her book on the settee heads upstairs, not even glancing her parents as she passes them, let alone answer her mother's pleasant 'good morning,' why should she when the woman had ruined everything. Her own mother had ruined the chance of her daughter having what she had experienced, the love of a wonderful man. A walk she thinks will calm her nerves and hopefully clear her mind. She throws the first hat she finds in her wardrobe onto her head and runs down the stairs, pleased to find the hall empty, her parents must have disappeared into the library or drawing room.

The slight breeze ruffles the bottom of her dress and tingles at her ears. She strolls in the general direction of the rose garden that she loves so much, her thoughts already turning to the stunning flowers her mother is so persistent the gardeners grow. It's one of the few things that doesn't totally get on her nerves about her mother, she does have good taste in flowers, even if she can't arrange them. She half heartedly meanders through the gate and heads towards the bench that she knows she'll find on the far side of the garden beside her favourite rose. She doesn't know it's name but it has a most perfect smell that wafts from its cerise pink petals.

As she rounds the corner, the perfume all around her swirling in her nostrils, she stops. Upon the bench sit her parents, her father's hand rests dangerously high on her mother's leg as he wafts one of Mary's favourite roses under her nose.

"You see Cora," she hears her father's captivating voice and can't seem to turn away however much she tries, what's it like to have a conversation with a man you love and with whom you're married to, have been married to for some time. She doesn't know, but she thinks deep down she wants that in her life. "This rose, is almost as beautiful as your nose, which is why it's so attracted to it. And the perfume is designed to attract you to it."

"Robert, don't be so ridiculous." Her mother giggles at her husband's absurdity and Mary can't help the sound warming her ears. How different a laugh sounds, she muses, when it is formed because of a lover.

"I'm not being ridiculous," he sounds adamant and Mary leans closer but is careful to stay obscured, whatever can he mean, of course he's being ridiculous. "You see, if you take this flower as you, and I as you. I was attracted all those years ago to your pretty scent and your beauty which is what you like in this flower."

"Are you likening me to a flower?"

"No, you are far more beautiful than this flower I was just demonstrating my point."

"And now, I shall demonstrate what I liked about you, using the flower." She pauses and Mary sees a smile spread broadly over her face, what is she planning? "Put the flower in your mouth, the stem." Mary watches as Robert carefully does so, avoiding the thorns. Cora howls with laughter and Mary digests a chuckle, she's never seen her father look quite so ridiculous. Robert stares blankly at Cora who a moment later regains her composure. "That," she chuckles "is what I fell in love with all those years ago. How amusing I found you." She takes the rose from his mouth and Mary feels a blush of embarrassment warm her cheeks as she watches her mother kiss her father, his hands straying to rub over her new brother or sister. She's relieved when they break apart but she does wonder somewhere in her mind why she didn't move, why is she still watching them? "I'm still convinced it will be a girl" her mother's voice is sure, yet somehow Mary can't help thinking there's a little regret mixed in. No doubt she wants to give Papa a boy, she thinks she's let him down perhaps. Mary thoughts prove correct when Robert speaks again.

"Cora, we've discussed this, it doesn't matter. I love you and I will love the baby. Always." He kisses her gently on the forehead and Mary finally turns away the words bouncing in her mind scaring her more than the vision of them kissing. Her father loves her mother, her mother loves her father. She wants her children to be able to watch such scenes they shouldn't see, and even the ones they do see that at first glance are embarrassing and soppy, she wants her children to see those and realise it's not embarrassing and soppy. It's love. She wants her children to be sure of their parents relationship just as she's always been. She realises now, as she walks back to the house, tears slipping down her cheeks, that the stability of her parents relationship, and therefore their ability as parents has made her the person she is and she wants that for her children. But, it's too late, she knows that, Matthew is gone. And Matthew thought of her just as her father thinks of her mother. That was her chance at happiness she'd let go, never to get back.


	5. Six months: Movement

Cora sits at her dressing table waiting for Robert to come and 'collect her.' They had a whole argument that morning in bed when she'd announced she was going to take a walk.

"Cora really," he looked agitatedly at her, "I have work this morning, can't you wait for the afternoon when I can walk with you, I don't want you catching a chill or tripping."

"No Robert, I'm spending the afternoon looking through the girls old baby clothes with Mary to see if we can modernise some of the styles."

"Why can't you do that this morning and walk this afternoon?"

"Because Mary is busy this afternoon. Now, please, I'm not a child I can cope on one walk on my own."

"It's not really that I'm bothered about, I want to be with you." Robert had looked so imploringly at her that she'd smiled and kissed him sweetly on the lips.

"Very well. I'll leave the clothes for today and sit in the library while you work and walk with you after luncheon."

"No, you want to walk this morning. Your wish is my command. I'll get the most important bits done and then we can walk. I'll come and collect you though. I'm not having you negotiate the stairs on your own. Not now everyone can see your little bump." Cora had smiled and agreed not wishing to site the fact that he could have just mentioned that he could rearrange his day in the first place, she was the one that was pregnant after all.

Now, she sat waiting, the view from her window beckoning her outside. Summer was beginning to fade and autumn was on its way. It wouldn't be long before she was both too big and it was too cold for her to be walking outside, she wanted to make the most of it while she could. She was about to get up and walk down to meet Robert when two things happened at once. The first was that the door opened and the second was a slight pressure, gone almost as quickly, at her stomach, was that the baby moving? She shakes her head inwardly, no, she was getting her hopes up. She'd been waiting for the first sign of movement for a week now, ever since she'd crossed the supposed six month barrier of her pregnancy but she knew she was getting too excited, it was likely she'd imagined it.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes." She stands and takes the arm Robert offers her. "I'm sorry I interrupted your morning."

"It doesn't matter. The interruption is pleasant. Did you get some more sleep after I left you this morning?"

"Yes, thank you." They reach the top of the staircase and Robert leaves their conversation, his whole attention focused on guiding her down the stairs. Robert gets so concentrated in his job that she doubts he notices the grin upon her face as she watches him, his facial expressions are just so amusing.

They walk quietly along their usual path, talking of this and that and when they get to the bottom they turn and walk back up. As they approach the tree with the bench bundled beneath it Robert says something silly and Cora laughs at which moment she feels the stab of pain against her abdomen again. This time she doesn't mistake the movement. It's Katherine, the pressure earlier had been something but this was a solid kick. She gasps.

"What is it, did I tread on your foot?"

"No, no." She rushes to the bench dragging him with her. "But your hand there." She takes his hand and places it over their baby. "She moved, just a moment ago. She kicked, when I laughed."

"She?" Cora looks down a blush spreading over her features, she hadn't chosen to tell anyone she was convinced the baby was a girl, their Katherine. The reasons were numerous, but the main one was that she was certain it would hurt Mary, whose heart was obviously broken, to think that her mother was having another girl and thus she should have accepted Matthew, Cora realised that would hardly help her to stop worrying about him. Another main reason was her secret hope for a boy, she thought that because the pregnancy was so similar to her first two it was likely be a girl and thus she ought to get used to that fact and not keep her hopes up which would more than likely be destroyed. The fact she'd just announced her thoughts to a Robert was unintentional.

"I...yes...I think it's a girl, the pregnancy is similar to Mary and Edith's, so far anyway."

"It's not to try and curb the disappointment?" Cora can't help but wonder at her husband working that out, he knows me far to well, is the only explanation and she's no doubt that is the correct explanation.

"No...yes, slightly I suppose. It's stupid really because I know when the day comes and I've been through all that pain, when the baby is put in my arms, boy or girl I'll immediately accept him or her into my heart and love them. But at this stage, well, the unknown always gives way to hope and I want to try and squash it, but the facts remain, the pregnancy is similar."

"Are you sure she moved?"

"Yes, positive. It was when I laughed."

"Well, in that case we best make you laugh again." She smiles up at him knowing the task he's set himself is going to be harder than he intended. He tries unsuccessfully for a good ten minutes to get her to laugh. He reminds her of old times, the girls falling in the lake and such like. He even gets so desperate as to start on the whole pulling funny faces game that he used to play endlessly with Sybil when she was a girl. "You remember when you told me you were pregnant I questioned you as to how you got pregnant?" Cora grins, a memory from only a couple of months before flitting before her eyes.

"Yes, it was a rather stupid question, and then you were convinced we had done something differently. You know, if you hadn't looked so serious I would have laughed out loud."

"I can imagine, the look on your face was priceless. It read 'Robert what the hell do you think we've been doing in bed for the last few months, sleeping?'" Cora shakes her head and laughs openly at his atrocious American accent. She is so caught up laughing at the stupidity of her husband that the three successively sharp stabs of baby Katherine's feet, or maybe hands make her gasp. She looks up and her eyes meet Robert's, she feels the tears hot on her cheeks as he rubs his hand over her stomach his smile showing just how delighted he is. She lets his lips cover hers and she weaves her hands into his curls. For the first time if really hits her, the baby is real, not something she'd conjured up in a dream and was coping with the symptoms of in reality. Katherine had just kicked, this was all very real, she and Robert were going to the parents again. She was going to be a mother to another child. She lets Robert's tongue probe inside her mouth, his hand still lying on her belly. His lips eventually break from hers.

"I'd forgotten how amazing it was to experience the baby moving. Does she kick hard? As hard as Mary?"

"No, not yet anyway. Let's hope it stays that way, at least then she might not be as stubborn as Mary."

"What about Edith, is it as hard as her?"

"Yes, I'd say so. This is bearable, as was Edith's kicking. And of course, it's better than Sybil's." She looks down realising that perhaps that was why she had been anxious since she'd passed six months. Sybil had not kicked very much, and when she did it had been feeble and then the pregnancy had gone quickly down hill with little Sybil arriving a whole month before she was due. It had all been quite terrifying so she was pleased this baby seemed to be following the paths of her first two pregnancies, that was definitely a good sign.

"Yes, well. That's a good thing."

"Robert, don't sound so downcast. I will be fine and the baby will be fine." She feels another swift kick in her lower abdomen. "Particularly if she carries on like this, she'll be kicking her way out at this rate." Robert laughs and he presses another gentle kiss to her lips.


	6. Six Months: Matthew

Matthew wouldn't lie and say he was looking forward to the next few months, he was well aware there was nothing that could prepare him for the horrors of the war he was to join on Monday. He'd been given two days leave following his training and had returned to his mother. He had given her specific instructions to not tell the family of his coming, he wanted to see none of them, least of all Mary. He still blamed her for not knowing her own mind, he was convinced Cousin Violet had not persuaded her to refuse him, but Cousin Rosamund, well, he was pleased she was in London otherwise he may be on trial for murder. He knew his thoughts were extreme and perhaps it was due to the training he'd received in the last few months, but, he supposed love had the ability to drive one crazy. He knew deep down Rosamund wasn't to blame, he knew Mary well enough to know, that without the mouthful she received form her aunt she would have been worried about accepting him when her mother could give birth to his replacement in a few months. He was well aware that Mary, although she loved him, of that he was sure, was not willing to give up all she knew just for the security of love.

He strolled confidently up the path and Molesley opened the door before taking his coat. He walked through to the front room his mother always occupied and stopped dead. Upon the sofa, her back to him, was a very finely dressed lady, her neck perfectly slender and pale against the dark hair pulled into an illustrious style upon her head, most of which was covered by a wide brimmed hat.

"I'm sorry if I have shocked you Matthew. I practically beat it out of your mother to find out when you were coming. I wanted to speak to you, alone." Her American accent fills the room and he walks to the window keeping his back to the pregnant woman. He doesn't wish to hear her try and persuade him that the child is most definitely a girl and Mary still loves him. "I know I expect you think you know why I'm here, well-"

"Cousin Cora," he swings around, his thoughts blazing, "I'd rather you didn't try and persuade me to propose to your daughter again because you are sure the baby is a girl. We can't be sure. You can't be sure."

"Matthew," his mother's voice speaks calmly for the doorway, obviously worried at how loud he's shouted at the delicate woman before him. "You know I wouldn't have let Cousin Cora come unless I felt it was necessary. She's not, as she will explain, here to discuss Mary. She wishes to apologise."

"Apologise for what?" He rounds on his cousin again, and for the first time notices the way her hands cradle her pronounced bump. The bump of her baby. He sees the way her eyes glow and her cheeks are a little rosy. She looks the healthiest Matthew has ever seen her.

"The situation with Mary. I don't know what she said but I do know that she hurt you, and I also know that it was my fault, as she can't apologise I would like to, on her behalf and my own, if I hadn't become pregnant none of this would have happened."

"Cousin Cora, you shouldn't apologise for the glorious situation you find yourself in."

"Perhaps. But I love you Matthew. Perhaps not like my son as Robert does, you have a wonderful mother after all. But I do love you and I'm well aware of how attached you've become to Downton. Regardless of the gender of the child I carry I wish you to know that you will always be welcome at Downton."

"I thank you whole heartedly, you know that. But you must see that won't be possible, not with how I've left things with Mary."

"Wounds from love are funny things. They may never totally heal but they do ease over time, I assure you. At that point you may wish to return to Downton, with a fiancée perhaps, you know none of us will hold it against you if you move on, we all wish you happy." He can't help thinking that Mary wouldn't agree, but the thought quickly vanishes from his mind, he needs to keep her out of his thoughts, besides she'd broken his heart why shouldn't she suffer a little? He also thinks that Robert is not likely to agree, he wants Downton kept within the family and he has to marry one of his daughters for that to happen, or at least that had been the case until Cora's pregnancy. But, it does please him that the woman before him, whom he's not spent all that much time with seems to put his interests first, seems to be more bothered with the thought of him being happy.

"I thank you, but I'm not sure my heart or my pride will ever be fully restored." He is surprised when her laugh fills the air.

"Men, and their pride. It would save us women a lot of bother if they were to just drop it. The point remains though, and if the child is a boy there is a house, Eryholme, on the edge of our land which you are more than welcome to." Matthew is taken aback by the offer being put before him, his cousin, a woman he'd not always got on well with largely, he supposed, because he had captured a large part of her husband's heart. Robert treated him as a son and it didn't escape his notice that this was likely to unsettle Cora, he was a constant reminder of the son she'd failed to have. But, well, that might be all about to change.

"Have you discussed that with Robert?"

"Not yet, I couldn't tell him where I was coming or he would have demanded to come and not only had I promised your mother I'd come alone, but I wanted to speak to you alone anyway. But Robert will agree, he isn't able to refuse me much at the moment. He's very protective when I'm pregnant and will do whatever I ask." She chuckles to herself and Matthew smiles knowingly, his mother had mentioned in a couple of her letters how overprotective Robert was being over Cora and how the two of them were more all over each other than ever.

"Well, I'm not sure what to say."

"There's nothing you have to say. It's my form of an apology for the heartbreak you've suffered at the hands of my daughter due to my pregnancy. I couldn't bear to send you to war without you knowing that we are all behind you."

"Thank you for that, but as to the other point, I'm not sure Mary would have accepted me anyway."

"Trust me when I say she would have done." The words are a stab through his heart and he turns back to the window as she stands and taking her little purse in hand heads to the door. "Write to your mother with your answer when she has told you the news of the baby. And you can visit the house I mentioned when you are here next, perhaps, depending on the gender of this little one. And good luck Matthew, I wish you all the luck in the world." He's surprised to feel a single tear run down his cheek as he hears the door close and watches his last link with the family at the big house walk down the path and out the gate, her hands caressing the baby inside her.


	7. Seven months: Cookies

AN: Thanks for all the reviews, they've really kept me going through revision. Just a reminder, as a guest reviewer did ask, I update on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Enjoy!

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Cora awoke in the middle of the night to another of her dreams. She kept having the same dream over and over again. The dream was of her and Robert in the gardens each holding one hand of a little boy, their boy, his hair a beautiful hazelnut colour, his blue eyes the image of his father's. Despite the coolness of the October night she was all over hot and her skin was sticky. She sits up and carefully, wrestling Robert's arm from her stomach and throwing the offending blanket he'd draped over her to the floor with a loud huff. She turns to face away from him and puts her head exasperatedly back onto her pillow, hope of sleep far from her mind. She tries for a few minutes to ignore the need to visit the toilet as the baby presses against her bladder. It had been a recent occurrence, only since she'd entered her seventh month that she was waking regularly in the night needing the toilet. She gives up trying to ignore the sensation and slides from the bed, padding slowly to the bathroom.

Robert turns in his sleep and something in his subconscious mind forces his eyes open. A quick look in front of him worries him, where is Cora? He hears a little noise in the bathroom and rather worried heads to the door, barely registering the moment when he climbed out of bed.

"Cora, are you alright?" The door opens to reveal her face a few inches from his.

"Perfectly fine, I didn't mean to wake you, I just needed to visit the bathroom."

"The baby is sitting on your bladder now then?"

"Yes, she has been for a couple of weeks."

"Have you been waking every night?"

"Yes, but it's not a problem, it happened with the girls too."

"I know that, but you should be staying longer in bed in the morning, to make up for the sleep you're missing."

"Robert, don't worry about me, I've been tending to nap in the afternoon while you've been working. Now, are you going to unblock the bathroom door so I may return to bed?" She punctuates her request with a kiss, quite amazed at how they'd managed to stand so close without touching.

He moves from the doorway at her request and shadows her across the room to the bed, making sure she doesn't trip on the blanket she'd thrown to the floor. He tucks the sheets back around her and walks to his own side of the bed. When he moves to get in he opens his mouth to chastise Cora on having pushed the blanket to the floor again when she sits up.

"Darling, I'm hungry." The sensation had come on rather suddenly but she now realised she had a deep need for biscuits. The same biscuits she has been consuming for a few months now. They were cinnamon cookies and she knew Mrs Patmore had been making them in batches every day ever since she had developed a craving for them. Robert sighs, he should have seen this coming.

"I suppose you want me to go and see if there are any cinnamon cookies in the kitchen?"

"I won't make you go alone, we can go together. Besides the corridors are dark and we don't have a match to light a candle."

"Very well." In the time it takes for him to retrieve his dressing gown and put it back on, Cora had donned hers, got out of bed and made her way to the door.

They negotiate the corridors together and when they reach the steep stairs leading to the servants work area she lets him descend them first, for the first time in her pregnancy a little wary of falling. She takes the rail firmly and watches only the steps as she descends. Robert holds out his hand to her at the bottom and she kisses him gently on the cheek.

"I'm sorry about all this."

"Your wish is my command, remember?" Cora nods at the phrase Robert had coined since the few months of her pregnancy. Pleased that he still felt it stood when she was wasting his sleep with long trips to the kitchen. They trail into the kitchen and are both a little shocked to see a plate of the cinnamon cookies seemingly waiting for them in the centre of the big table. Cora frowns.

"It seems Mrs Patmore has been expecting us." Robert laughs as Cora makes a grab for the biggest cookie on the plate and he hears the decisive munching from his position behind her.

"Yes, no doubt she remembered your cravings from the girls and once she'd found what you craved this time has been expecting you to wake hungry."

"But how did she know it was going to be tonight?" Her question comes from her bulging mouth and Robert laughs again as she makes a grab for another cookie. He steps towards her and wraps his arms around her waist, just below their baby. When she turns to face him he lifts her onto the table, eliciting a small squeal from her full mouth.

"I can't answer that my darling. How are the cookies, nice?"

"Delicious." She takes another greedy bite from the one she holds. Still holding her waist he makes a grab for the cookie she holds with his teeth. She snatches it away. "You're not having any until I'm full, then you can have what's left you naughty man."

"But I'm hungry Cora, please." He's pathetic pouting expression makes her giggle, just as he had hoped and he rubs his nose slowly over hers.

"I'm sure that this will curb your hunger." She leans forward and kisses him, her lips and tongue still taste of cinnamon and for the moment that is all Robert will have of her cookies. She's determined to stop him form eating them. But for Robert that's all he needs, the taste he thinks is so much better when it comes second hand from her delightful mouth. "Better?" She breaks her lips from his ever so slightly.

"Much, thank you." He kisses her again and marvels in the feel of her tongue, tasting of not only her, his darling Cora, but Mrs Patmore's stunning cinnamon biscuits. They both lose themselves in each other, so much so they don't hear the clattering of a small pair of feet on the stairs and Daisy enter the room until she gasps. The couple instantly spring apart, their faces stained pink with embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry." The girl stammers and Robert looks at Cora.

"No, we are. I am. Daisy, isn't it?" Cora's relieved when the girl nods. "I awoke hungry and his lordship helped me to the kitchens." The couple exchange a glance when the girl laughs, then suddenly stops, obviously remembering she is in the presence of her employers.

"Beg 'ur pardon m'lord, lady. It is just Mrs Patmore said you'd likely be downstairs one day in the next few days, hungry. We've been leaving the cookies out every night for a few weeks. I think she was getting a little worried that you hadn't appeared yet."

"That explains why the cookies were waiting for us then darling." Robert's voice cuts between the two women and he lifts Cora gently from the table. "We best be getting back to bed." Cora blushes as Robert lifts her from the table and she turns and takes the plate of cookies, her hunger still very much burning in her stomach.

"Thank Mrs Patmore for me Daisy. I'm going to take these upstairs, O'Brien will return the plate in the morning." They walk to the door, Robert's hand resting on her back when a sudden thought occurs to her. "Daisy, do you make these cookies?"

"Yes, yes, m'lady I do."

"Well they are quite wonderful."

"Thank you." Daisy blushes a little which pleases Cora, it's good the girl gets the recognition, she'd noticed the couple of times she'd been in the kitchen to discuss menus that Daisy was bossed around rather too much for her ability by the ever agitated cook. As they reach the stairs Robert turns to Cora, shocked at the last part of the exchange with the kitchen maid.

"How did you know she made the cookies?"

"Just a hunch, she seemed really pleased when I announced how much I liked them, and she wasn't nervous about telling us that they'd been leaving the cookies out for me. That suggested she'd been hoping every morning to find them gone."

"You, are so ridiculously clever. And I love you." Cora blushes as she sees Daisy turn to face the other way in the kitchen doorway behind Robert as his hands find their new favourite place on their baby and his lips seal hers.


	8. Seven months: Edith

Edith sat at breakfast that morning quite alone. Her father had not yet joined her and she was in no doubt that the reason was his lack of sleep the night before. She knew that in the last week or so her mother had been finding it difficult to sleep and had either been awake most of the night tossing and turning or had been making trips to the kitchen to collect her cinnamon cookies. Her father had divulged these facts to her a few mornings before when he had come down to breakfast in what could only be described as a half asleep state. When she had questioned him as to why it was necessary for him to make these trips to the kitchens also, as it was quite obvious her tossing and turning kept him awake, he had simply replied that he didn't want her falling down the stairs. Edith and her sisters had found it awfully amusing that their father persisted in helping their mother down every set of stairs. Mary had rolled her eyes and exclaimed it all to be ridiculously soppy while Sybil had cried out about how romantic it was. Edith, in her mind, sat somewhere in between. She could see why her father would want to protect her mother but she did think that perhaps he took it a little too far, she was well aware from the looks she sometimes saw upon her mother's face that she was just indulging him.

She hears footsteps in the hall and immediately recognises them as her father's. Not only are they heavy and clumpy but they are not her sister Mary's, and Sybil had already eaten and set out on a morning ride. Sure enough her father enters the room, dark circles beneath his eyes.

"You should have stayed in bed Papa, you look shattered."

"I've got work to do. Besides, I got more sleep last night than I have been getting. Your mother may have taken a while to fall asleep but at least she didn't wake once she was asleep." He sits at the table and unfolds his napkin in the practised way he always has done, before diving for the food on his plate. Edith wasn't surprised, it was his favourite this morning, bacon, sausage and egg. She lets him eat for a moment before continuing the conversation.

"Is Mama still asleep?"

"She was when I left her half and hour ago. But no doubt she'll be awake soon. She seems to be finding it easier to sleep in the afternoon."

"Do you want a boy or a girl?" Edith watches her father's reaction closely. He puts his cutlery down and she's surprised when he takes her hand.

"Edith dear, I will love any child your mother and I have, whatever their gender. We love our girls equally, if for different things. Regardless of the gender of the baby your mother carries, we will always love you and your sisters just as much." Edith, although very taken aback by this show of emotion from her father, it's not an often occurrence, can't help but realise how her question must have sounded, the opposite of the innocent question she had really been asking.

"Papa, you mistake me. I never doubted that, I just wanted to know what you want."

"I'm not at all bothered. Of course it would be nice to have some male support in the house. But I love my darling daughters and if I have another I can easily boast I have the prettiest family in England." Edith laughs. "But, your mother wishes for a little boy I think, so in many ways I hope she gets what she wants, she deserves that after being so wonderful."

"Did I just hear myself called 'wonderful'?" Edith turns as quickly as her father at the sound of her mother's voice. She stands in the doorway, hair piled on her head in a pretty new gown Edith has never seen. The gown she knows is from the dressmaker in London, her mother had been sending measurements to the lady for the past month and a whole parcel of clothes had arrived the day before. Edith doesn't miss the terrified expression that briefly crosses her father's face before he masks it with his signature smile, the one designed only for her mother.

"You did hear that correctly, however, I may have to take that back. You've walked all the way down the stairs without my assistance. Cora, we've discussed this, it worries me."

"Darling," Edith watches as she places her hand on his arm and rubs slowly, her other hand taking his and squeezing gently, "I didn't walk down the stairs alone, O'Brien walked with me." Edith doesn't believe a word of what her mother says so she's pleasantly surprised when her father kisses her soundly on the cheek.

"Well, that's good, but shouldn't you be resting?"

"I will rest this afternoon. I got up because I could smell this delightful breakfast from my bedroom." She turns to the sideboard, and Edith laughs into her napkin at the wide eyed expression of wonder her mother wears at the food she sees before her. She watches her pile the food onto her plate before sitting down opposite her.

"Mama?" She hears herself ask, "are you sure you're going to eat all that?" But her mother doesn't so much as look up from her plate, two forkfuls already gone she picks up the next.

"Don't worry Edith, she'll eat it all." Her father's reply is a whisper as he also watches in fascination as his wife takes mouthful after mouthful. She suddenly looks up.

"What are you two staring at? I'm pregnant, unlike the pair of you, I have two people to feed, one of whom is growing ridiculously fast. Get on with your own food, it's a waste otherwise and this is good food, not to be wasted." Edith obediently tucks back into her breakfast, the strange sensation of being back in the schoolroom consuming her. Thoughts of the school room buzz in her mind as she watches her mother finish her breakfast and kissing her father squarely on the lips announce she's going to go and sit in the library ready to watch him work when the time comes. The feeling of having a new brother or sister overtakes Edith as she remembers the times she and her sisters spent together as girls. She remembers her parents being around them quite a lot of the time and one, or both of them, reading the three of them bedtime stories. She's amazed how clearly she remembers it all and she briefly thinks that it might be sad for her new brother or sister to have negotiate those fun and sad times without the joy other siblings of the same age brings. She hopes in some ways the little baby her mother carries is a little boy, then he will be so different from what her and her sisters remember of each other as young girls, that they might all spend time with him in the nursery. She doesn't doubt her parents will spend lots of time there too, but she wants her little sibling to have the sense of siblings like she had because even in the bad times you still love them to pieces.


	9. Eight months: Discomfort

AN: this is quite a high T, some people may think it's nearer a very low M, just a warning. I rejigged this chapter a good few times, I hope you like it it's a little angsty too!

On another note, I'd like to thank everyone for all the lovely reviews, it's the most I've ever had for a story! So thank you all so much. X

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She sits up with a start, a cool sweat covering every inch of her body, tears already falling down her cheeks. She groans at the pain, the spasm that seems to race up her back.

"Cora, are you alright?" She just shakes her head, her hands clutching at her back to try and reduce the searing pain. At eight months she was huge and she hadn't had a full nights sleep in at least two weeks. It was a combination of factors that was resulting in this, the first was undoubtedly the nightmares, just like the one she'd just woken from; her hazelnut haired son racing across the lawn in front of her and then suddenly evaporating, disappearing from her view to leave a pool of blood upon the grass. She wasn't sure if it was her mind remembering how she'd almost fallen out of the bath or because of her inability to see her own feet now that her pregnancy had progressed, and that had brought on the fear of tripping. Her lack of sleep wasn't helped by the fact she had a peculiar desire to be with Robert most times that she woke, it was so different to how she'd been with the girls, after about four months she'd got over her constant need for intimacy, but not this time, it had subsided at some point in the middle but now it was back in full force.

She feels his hands on her back, massaging just below where her own are pressed and she sighs at the touch, each time she sighs he presses harder.

"Is that helping?" He sounds so concerned but she knows she can't answer him, not when she's likely to burst into tears, she just wants it all to be over, for the baby to arrive and everything to be alright. Although, she knows as soon as little Katherine arrives Robert is going to abandon her for he front. "Cora darling, please say something. You're scaring me." She gulps, trying to swallow the tears that bubble in her whole head.

"The massage is lovely. I just..." The tears stream over her face and Robert's hands still, sending the searing pain up her back again, the muscles all tensing.

"Here have one of these." He holds the plate of cinnamon cookies out for her and she reluctantly takes one, feeling the bile already rising in her throat at the mere thought of eating. She nibbles slowly at one side unable to concentrate with the nausea in her stomach and the firm gaze she can feel on her cheek.

"Robert, please stop watching me." She knows she growls and she can see from the corner of her eye the way he recoils at her tone.

"Something is troubling you Cora, what is it?" She wants to hurl the cookie across the room or at him, why should he ask, why does he have to know her so perfectly? Besides, he should know, it was him that made her pregnant in the first place, all her anger seems to build, all her hurt from her nightmare and she finds herself yelling.

"Everything, absolutely everything, Katherine, the pain, how big I am. Seriously Robert you have no idea what I'm going through for this baby of yours! Lack of sleep, constantly needing the toilet, nightmares-"

"Nightmares?" She closes her eyes at her own short comings, she'd managed to keep the nightmares from him for weeks.

"Yes." She doesn't want to elaborate, it wasn't right to burden him with it, besides it was such a strange tale to retell, Robert would likely think her mad.

"Will you tell me?"

"Honestly Robert, it's not going to make any difference if I do." She slowly eases herself back into the bed, trying to get comfortable when her back still blazes.

"Cora I want to help you, what can I do to make you more comfortable?" She can hear how anxious he his, and the tears well up again, she knows Robert well enough to know that even when she falls back off to sleep he's going to stay awake, not able to sleep from anxiety about her wellbeing.

"Massage my back like a moment ago." He shuffles behind her, his hands coming to rest on the hard muscles on her back. His hands make large circles and she sighs each time he clips at regions of pain. It's not just his hands that relax her though, the gentle pattern of his breathing on her neck seems to allow her eyes to close and a sense of contentment wash over her. She must be almost asleep again, her breathing considerably slower than his, when the young blue eyes that aren't her husband's slide into her vision. Her eyes flash open, a bitter moan whistling through her parted lips.

"Cora?" His hands still at her moan, his breath coming closer to her neck as he leans over her in an attempt to see her face. "Did I hurt you?"

"No." It's more of a sob with a shake of her head than an actual word. His hand strokes over the tears that are already pooling at her eyes. When her gaze meet his she sees the hurt, the bitter look in his eyes that shows how much he wants to help her, how much he wants to take the pain away, she turns quickly away unwilling to burden him. It's only when his lips press at her shoulder and then on the soft skin of her neck that she swallows the tears, the first comfortable sensation of the night overwhelming her. "It's the baby." She says the words in her bliss filled state only for his lips to still.

"What do you mean 'the baby'?"

"The nightmare. He and I race across the lawn and then...then...he disappears, leaving behind a pool of b-blood." The tears race down her cheeks. "He looks so much like you and I don't know what to do...I grasp at the air but-but he's gone. And I keep thinking that maybe I'm going to lose-lose the baby." His lips press at her neck again, a reassuring kiss designed to steady her nerves, it seems to have the desired effect as her tears still a little, her sobs coming only from her throat.

"The doctor said you are perfectly on track and doing very well."

"But all the weird things, the fact I still want intimacy with you this late in my pregnancy, and I never had nightmares with the girls."

"Cora, you know what the doctor said, every pregnancy is different and you are a little older than you were with the girls."

"But-"

"Hush my darling, please, you need to sleep. Is there anything I can do to help you sleep?"

"Hold me, and kiss me, and perhaps massage my back."

"Your wish is my command my dearest one." She settles against him, her eyes closing once more, it's the steadying breathing with the pattern of kisses Robert places at her neck that seem to calm her the most and she lets herself focus on those things. Little Edward stays away which is a relief and she knows her breathing slows considerably, even more than last time. But she can't quite let her brain turn off, the more she focuses on his touches, the more she wants him, and she gently begins to realise that small gasps are escaping her mouth. It seems Robert notices her distraction and his hands trail from her back to her bottom, pulling the fabric of her nightgown to her waist. She doesn't stop him as he shuffles her panties down her legs before twirling his fingers over the moist folds.

"Robert...I don't think-"

"It's relaxing you. Besides, I'm really not adverse to this need for me you've developed this late in your pregnancy." Cora blushes just as Robert's finger dips into the wetness between her legs. She feels her hips buck forward a little against his hand just as he adds another finger to his teasing. "One thing I did wonder about though..." He gets distracted by her moans of pleasure, his fingers swirling faster and harder, Cora feels momentary embarrassment wash over her as she realises how close she is after so short a period of his ministrations, but the thought quickly passes as his fingers press deeper, swirling over her wall of fire. "Why is the baby in your dreams a boy and not little Katherine." She doesn't know if she gasps and exclaims his name as loudly as she does because her body finally gives itself over to him or because she hadn't realised she'd given away the fact the nightmares were about their son, not Katherine.

She doesn't say anything for some time, her body caught up in reducing her heart rate and controlling her breathing, while her thoughts recover from not only the physical exertion but the mental strain of thinking up a way to get out of this mess regarding her dreams.

"I don't know why it's a boy, not when the pregnancy is so similar. I definitely carry a girl." But she knows Robert doesn't believe her, goodness, she doesn't believe it herself, not anymore, everything about the pregnancy is different- nightmares, desires, cravings, when she sleeps, how she sleeps.

"Whichever way, you know I'll always love you very much Cora?" She merely nods before turning slightly to press her lips to his cheek.


	10. Eight months: Sybil

Sybil wanders aimlessly towards the library one morning, set on finding a new book to read and to return the old one. Her thoughts, as they had done frequently since the day her mother announced her condition turn to her parents and the baby due next month. She can't decide in her mind if she'd rather a brother or a sister, both she knows would be of equal delight to her. The news had shocked her momentarily when her parents had announced it, but now, she couldn't imagine life any different. She is madly excited at the prospect of a younger sibling, probably because she'd never had one, she'd never really seen a baby actually and she was looking forward to experiencing all the things her mother and sisters had been telling her: holding the baby, singing to the baby, watching him or her learn to crawl then walk and then some time in the future, talk. She was excited about the prospect of helping her mother care for the baby- learning to feed and dress her future sibling. The baby to her offered a wealth of new opportunities.

She is now also sure about what she wants in her future, the hope of the war being over for Christmas was quickly disappearing from her hopes and instead she was determined she wanted to do her part. She was also determined to try and keep her father from going, she couldn't imagine how her mother would cope with a new born baby without her father there to help her. Papa had never actually said he was going to volunteer as soon as the baby was born, but it was obvious. She knew her Papa well enough to know he would not be happy until he'd down his duty for his country.

One other thing had come from her mother's pregnancy that Sybil had decided about her future. She wanted to marry for love and only the very strongest love. She wanted a marriage like her parents. She wanted a husband whom took care of her and worried about her when she was pregnant, perhaps not to the extent her father worried over her mother, he was a little over protective, but she wanted their faith in each other, their understanding that was solely based on their love for one another. She knew Mary thought it ridiculously soppy how they had been behaving in the last few months, kissing and touching all the time but Sybil knew it was due to the baby. This was their last chance and Sybil could see that in the eyes of her parents the baby was a little miracle and they were both over the moon with joy and anticipation. She only hoped that the birth would be alright and that her mother would make it. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her and she was well aware her mother had suffered severely when pregnant with her, but, so far the pregnancy had gone fine and the doctor was confident all would be alright. As she moves to the door of the library she hears her mother's raised voice from within and she stops.

"Robert, seriously, I'm only asking you to move a cushion, it's going to take you all of thirty seconds."

"And I've just told you Cora that I'm halfway through a letter that should have been written yesterday." Sybil presses herself against the wall in the hope her parents can't see her.

"The letter is already late, thirty seconds is not going to make any difference. Now, please, I'm mighty uncomfortable and need the cushion moved."

"Why on earth can't you do it yourself?"

"Because in case you'd forgotten, I'm pregnant, with your baby." Her mother's tone is sharp and she can't help thinking her father's being a trifle unkind. Why, she can't fathom, he's been at her side every second for weeks, sorting out every slight whim she may happen to mention.

"Yes, I was aware of that fact, you've been keeping me up all night."

"If that's such a problem there's nothing stopping you sleeping in the dressing room. You realise in the time we've been talking you have not written a word of that wretched letter which means you could have easily moved my cushion."

"Cora, it's only just behind your back, quite accessible to you if you shuffle further forward on the settee."

"'Shuffle,' Robert Joseph Crawley can you hear the words coming out of your mouth!? I am three weeks from my due date, the size of a house and can not shuffle. I'd fall flat on my face. Now, will you move the damn cushion!?" Sybil watches discreetly from the door and is amazed when her father stays sat at his desk, she's about to enter and help her mother when she shrieks again. "Robert, it's you that got me in this state. It's all your fault I'm the size of a house, all because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself in bed. The least you can do is move the cushion." Sybil is relieved when her father finally caps his pen and walks over to her although the slight blush that spreads across her own cheeks startles her, but then as had her mother's comment that had been the source of it.

"I'm sorry, you're right. How would you like the cushion?" He reaches behind her and moves it a little until she nods. Then he sits beside her and takes her hand. "I shouldn't have been rude, I'm sorry. It is partly my fault you are in this state. Although if I remember correctly you had a great deal of difficulty keeping your hands from me." Sybil watches as her mother blushes and she realises she wants to blush like that when her husband says something naughty, she wants to be able to be confident enough with her husband to say naughty things and tease him, just as her parents tease each other.

"Perhaps, but I am still the one suffering with the after effects. This baby of yours is massive and I doubt I'll see you giving birth in a couple of weeks." Sybil is pleased their voices have lowered and they've recovered. She's even more relieved when her father laughs. She realises she wants that too, she wants to be able to laugh with her husband.

"No, I leave that pleasure to you my dearest one." He kisses her hand and then her cheek, his other hand resting on the one she holds on their baby. He draws slow circles over the fabric beneath his fingers.

"I love you Robert, and I'm sorry I yelled too."

"You had every reason to yell, I was being and idiot. And, I love you too." He presses a kiss to her lips and only once he returns to his desk does Sybil enter the room. She still vows that she wants a marriage like her parents. She'd never heard them say 'I love you' to each other before, but somehow that had bought home to her even more strongly how much she wanted that, how much she wanted a man, her husband, to say that to her.


	11. Nine months: Sweets

Robert held Cora's arm tightly as they walked through the village. She'd awoken that morning in a foul mood, fed up with being confined to inside. When she'd begged for him to take her to the village he'd at first been reluctant, stressing that her due date was only a week away. The only thing it had resulted in was her yelling that she was the one giving birth in a weeks time and seeing as she was still perfectly able to walk around, he was taking her for a walk to the village whether he wanted to or not. Having been put firmly in his place, he now found himself, wrapped up in a thick coat, gloves and a scarf, his toes about to fall off from the chill, traipsing through the village, Cora on his arm.

The reason she had been so adamant that morning to be taken on a walk was not only her desperation to get outside, but her desire to spend more time with Robert. If her assumption was correct, a few weeks earlier when they'd had a argument in the library because he wouldn't move a cushion for her, was due to the fact he'd been writing a letter, Cora was sure this was the letter to the war office, laying down his willingness to go to the front. If that was the case she had very few days with him left and she wished to make the most of them.

She knows she can't admit to Robert that she is feeling tired and that her legs are aching due to the amount of walking they have done. She'd had to yell to get him to agree to take her in the first place and now she was here she had to enjoy herself, or at least pretend she was. She hoped he hadn't noticed that her pace was slowing and that she was holding even tighter to his arm, in the hope that if she fell with her tiring legs he would catch her. The heavy frost the night before had left the grass and foliage a satisfying shade of white, and the roofs and the windowsills of the houses and shops were covered to the point that a young child upon awaking might think that it had snowed, the air is bitterly cold, a lot colder than she expected, and she's pleased that O'Brien took the initiative to dress her in her warmest winter coat. She watches with wonder two young children chasing each other on the village green, one of the children clutches a bag of sweets, and just like that the tiredness in her legs is forgotten, replaced by the need to have some sugar.

"Darling, may we go to the sweet shop? I'm hungry." Robert turns to his wife, her face stained pink with the exercise and the cold. He holds back the need to remind her they are heading back to the house and she may eat when she gets home.

"Darling, breakfast was only a couple of hours ago."

"Exactly, ages ago, I'm hungry again. Please darling." Robert laughs at her creased forehead and her pouting lips, at that moment she looks like a child demanding sweets, not a middle aged pregnant woman. "Don't laugh, it's not funny. This damn child of yours is making my life a nightmare." He takes both her gloved hands and gives her a chaste kiss on the lips in apology. The moment his lips touch hers the two children that were playing on the green come racing around the corner. They fly into him. Their mother appears behind them a second later and blushes when she sees whom she stands before.

"Lord Grantham, Lady Grantham," she nods at them each in turn, "I apologise for my children. I hope neither of them hurt you Lady Grantham."

"No, I'm quite fine. They ran into my husband." Robert listens with amazement at how calmly Cora replies, she could have been knocked over, and yet here she was smiling and laughing as the two children muttered their apologies and offered her a sweet in compensation. A sweet she took with a smile. Robert is pleased however, that as the children walk off with their mother she gives them a hard dressing down for their reckless behaviour before taking the sweets from them not to be returned 'until you behave sensibly for a few hours.' "Robert," he feels the sharp tug at his hand and turns back to Cora, about to open his mouth and check she's alright when she answers his unspoken question, "I'm fine, but can we please get to the sweet shop, I'm hungry." He obediently takes her hand and let's her half drag, half walk him to the shop.

As Cora steps through the door she feels like a young girl again. The tiredness forgotten, along with the ache in her legs as she absorbs the scene before her. The shelves are piled high with jars of every shape and size filled with sweets of every shade of every colour. She knows her eyes are wide and the lady behind the counter is chuckling with amazement at the sight of Lady Grantham staring open mouthed at the small little sweet shop she owns. As her eyes roam over the labels on the jars she frantically tries to decide in her mind which ones she wants to purchase. Just as she thinks she has made up her mind on the three varieties she might like to try her eyes find another one that sends her tastebuds a flutter.

Robert watches with almost as much amusement as Mrs Foster as Cora's eyes settle first on one jar and then another, her eyebrows knitted together as she tries to decide which sweets she wants. Mrs Foster he knows marvels at her interest while he marvels at her beauty as she does these things. The way her hands lovingly stroke the baby that's now fully grown in her belly, the way she tilts her head from side to side so she can see beneath the brim of her hat, the movement causes a stray curl that hangs down her neck to dance from one side to the other and Robert becomes transfixed with watching the way it moves. In this transfixed state he moves to stand behind her, she jumps and giggles at her own stupidity when he wraps his arms around her, his hands coming to rest on hers where they still lie protectively over their baby.

"Lady Grantham," he murmurs into her ear, kissing little patterns behind it and nipping the lobe with his teeth as he pauses, "have you decided which sweets you wish to purchase?"

"Well, I definitely would like some pear drops, you know how much I like them. And then I think I would like some jelly babies, the baby might like them you know." Robert shakes his head at her ridiculous reasoning and plants a kiss on the dancing curl that still swirls against her neck. "And then, I can not decide between liquorice and the toffee humbugs. Which do you think darling?"

"I'm not at all bothered darling, your wish is my command."

"Well then, I think I might be very naughty and have both, what do you think?"

"As I said, your wish, my command." She twirls in his arms and walks to the counter where Mrs Foster quickly packets the sweets for her and wishing her a safe delivery of their baby they exit the shop. Cora's hand immediately dives into the paper bag of sweets and he laughs as she puts two jelly babies in at once. When she finishes chewing a record number of seconds later she sighs.

"Delicious."

"The baby liked them then?"

"Yes, I think so, but please, she has a name, Katherine."

"We don't know its girl yet." She laughs for no apparent reason and Robert doesn't ask her why, before she's digging into the bag of sweets again, the routine continues along the street and Robert just watches in awe at the beautiful, wonderful woman before him. How lucky he is to be married to such a person. A tear builds in his eye at the thought of leaving her to fight in a couple of weeks time, and he brushes it quickly away. It's the right thing to do, for England, for his country, the King. But as he watches Cora pile more sweets into her mouth he begins to doubt, is it right to leave her so soon after she's given birth, should he even leave at all? He makes a decision in his mind, a final decision that he knows won't change, before turning back to Cora, now is not the time to tell her, he muses, best to wait until she has had the baby before shocking her too greatly.


	12. Nine months: Isobel

Isobel had been watching from the window as Robert and Cora exited the sweet shop and headed towards the green in front of her house. She had been watching ever since she'd glimpsed them walk through the grounds of the church that morning. She wasn't spying, just keeping watch. She knew what it was like to be pregnant and she could remember all too well the need to get out and about in the last few weeks, but Cora was obviously clutching onto Robert quite firmly and Isobel could see the concentration on her face as she tired to avoid slipping over. It was obviously she was tired and uncomfortable and Isobel didn't doubt that she was, her due date was a week away, there was no way she should be anyone but at Downton in the warm. It was for this reason she had watched the couple as they made their way through the village, if anything happened she wanted to be ready. It wasn't that she didn't trust Robert, he had proved in he last few months that he could take good care of Cora, but nevertheless he was likely to panic rather than think rationally if something did happen. She also didn't doubt that if Robert had been allowed a choice he would not have taken Cora out this morning, but no doubt she had used her charms and his weakness to persuade him, Isobel had seen enough of that in the last few months to be sure that the excursion they were taking had Cora's name written all over it.

As she watches them exit the sweet shop, both still upright, thank goodness; Cora plunging greedy hands into the brown paper bag she holds Isobel couldn't help thinking back to the plan the lady had presented to Matthew, of him living at Eryholme if the child were to be a boy. She wondered if Matthew would accept the offer. She'd been thinking like this for months, convinced that the baby Cora carried was a boy, she couldn't explain why she thought that, indeed there was no proof, Cora herself believed it was another girl. But Isobel wasn't convinced, she was sure the couple deserved a son, she was sure they deserved what they'd always dreamed of. Of course, it would change her own son's future, but then that had been altered by Mary anyway. Lost in her thoughts of a baby boy that would no doubt have the blue eyes of one or other of its parents she almost misses the turn the couple make into her driveway. A moment or two later Molesley ushers the couple into her little sitting room.

"Sorry to disturb you Isobel but I thought it best if Cora had a break from the cold, and a sit down."

"Yes, quite." She turns her gaze to Cora. "You shouldn't be out you know." She's unsurprised when the woman gives her a cheery smile, her hand hovering over her bag of sweets.

"I'm quite alright. Still perfectly able to walk, Robert keeps fussing over me but that's just his way, I'd rather you didn't join in." Isobel doesn't shy away from the warning Cora presents her with, why should she when she's only trying to protect her and her unborn child.

"Well, Robert is correct. The baby is due in a week and the cold weather might bring on labour as might the exercise. It would be a lot safer for both of you if you were at home in the warm."

"I appreciate your concern Isobel, I really do, but I'm fine. Have you heard from Matthew recently?" Isobel isn't blind to Cora's methods of escape, she's rather practiced in changing the subject, she's really quite gifted at the job even when she had a dining table full of guests she manages to avoid controversial topics of conversation by changing the subject. This time though Isobel decides to indulge her, after all there is nothing she can do about the fact Cora is out, the decision had been made that morning and now here they were. Neither did she wish to worry the ever worrying Robert by pointing out how tired she looked, or the look of relief she'd seen cover her face as she'd sat down on the settee.

"I have, he wrote to ask me how you were and whether everything was still proceeding alright with your condition. He also asked for any other news he might be interested in." This hadn't been the whole letter but it was the only bits that really mattered for the present conversation.

"And did he mention if he'd come to a decision about my proposal?" Cora's words come through a mouthful of sweet and Isobel can't help but turn away as Robert watches her indulgently, his hand rubbing slowly up and down her thigh, need they be so affectionate in front of her? Cora's condition is enough to make most people frown, a forty year old woman pregnant, and then to watch them being all cosy all the time. It was bearable at Downton where there were lots of other distractions at dinners and such like, it was possible to look the other way without seeming rude, but in the middle of her sitting room?

"No, he didn't, only that he would wait until he had news of the child." Cora nods as another sweet enters her mouth. There's a break in conversation as Robert feeds her the next sweet, dancing it in front of her mouth, Isobel once again feels the urge to be as far from them as possible. She can't really understand her aversion to their affection it's not something she had any difficulty with until Cora became pregnant and then suddenly it became stomach churning. Perhaps, she muses, she might be a little jealous of Cora's chance to have such a large family when she only managed to have one son. "Are you still convinced the baby is a girl?" Isobel notes how her question startles the couple back to reality, they were obviously miles away.

"Yes, I think so." Isobel decides not to comment on the expression of uncertainty and hope that's written on Cora's face.

"And do you have a name?"

"Yes," it's Robert that answers this time, "we do, but, you'll have to wait and find out, we haven't told anyone yet."

"Well, I'll wait with heightened excitement. Now, I really think you ought to be getting back to the abbey. It'll be lunch time soon, and you need to eat something other than sweets Cora, and I suggest you rest for the afternoon, you're too close to the due date to not be well rested." Isobel notes Cora's weak nod and the winch she makes as she stands, her hand immediately reaching for Robert's support.

Isobel can't help thinking two things as the couple make their way back down her drive, the first is that she is sure not only that Cora secretly wants a son, but that the child is a boy, instinct somehow. The second thing she thinks, instinct also, is that, most probably by the following morning, at the very latest tomorrow night there will be a new Crawley cooing from its crib.

Isobel, if she had been able to place a bet on her assumptions would have found her pockets rather full. That night, some time just before midnight Cora shook her husband awake. "Darling, call the doctor," she said, "she's coming."


	13. Nine months: A New Life

Robert paced around the library, he'd been doing so for the past two hours. When Cora had awoken him the night before, he'd panicked. But, thankfully, his wife was good at keeping calm. The doctor had arrived and had pronounced everything to be fine. The hours of the day had passed pleasantly enough if rather slowly, he'd stayed with Cora for most of the day but two hours ago both her and the doctor had asked him to leave; Cora's contractions reaching a point where he was no longer of use and Clarkson started preparing Cora for the birth. Since that moment he'd paced the library continuously, a glass of port in hand. The girls all sat bundled together on the settee, his mother snoozed in a chair in the corner. The girls had offered to be with Cora but she had turned them away, no doubt wanting to save them the trauma.

He couldn't remember being this anxious before. He couldn't work out if it was because he was worried for Cora or excited at the prospect of being a father again. He presumed it was the thought of losing Cora and indeed he'd taken the doctor aside not long after he'd arrived saying that if a crunch came he was to save his wife, regardless of what she said or the gender of the child. The thought of losing her had plaqued his mind a lot in the last two hours, even with the library door shut her frequent screams of pain could be heard. But, in the last half an hour those screams, that at least proved she was still alive had stopped and nothing but silence echoed in the abbey. Silence. What did that mean? What was happening?

"Lord Grantham, your wife is asking for you." Doctor Clarkson's voice echoes through the silence as he appears at the door. Violet starts awake, Robert stops pacing and the girls all turn expectantly to the door.

"She's alright?" Robert says the words before he realises he's thought them.

"She's perfectly fine, as is the baby."

It's only when Robert is half way up the stairs he realises the doctor did not specify the gender of the newborn. On all the other occasions of Cora giving birth he'd arrived in the library and said 'as is your daughter.' But, not this time, what did that mean? That doctor didn't want to break his heart by telling him a little Katherine had entered the world? Or, dare he hope, he wanted him to have a surprise, he wanted him to see the baby, his son, before he announced the gender? He didn't know, he didn't care. What was important was that Cora was alive and well, as was their little miracle.

Cora sits gazing at the bundle in her arms. She can't believe that even after a full day of labour she doesn't feel all that tired, the little face of her miracle totally removing any unhappy or tired thoughts she may have had. She waits anxiously for Robert to appear and she's pleased when the door opens and he enters. She reluctantly breaks her gaze from the pair of young blue eyes before her and turns to meet another pair of similar eyes.

"Come and say hello to your little son my darling." Robert is sure his mouth falls open as he climbs onto the bed and wraps an arm around Cora's back, did she just say 'son'? Did he really have a son. Cora watches with amazement as a Robert stares at her and then the little boy in her arms, she knows his mind is reeling, checking that he heard her correctly. When he presses a kiss to her head she knows he's processed the information. It didn't surprise her, the doctor had laughed at her shocked expression when he had announced the fact to her. In fact, she had been so unconvinced she had asked the doctor for proof, a warm blush glowing on her cheeks when she had the evidence before her, but the embarrassment at having asked the question quickly disappeared as she had processed the information. Her mind had been consumed with amazement, she had a son, all those months of thinking another little girl was her due and yet she had a son. They had a son. When she'd recovered from her shock, tears sprinkled in the corners of her eyes she had asked the doctor to keep the news from the family until Robert had left the room. She wanted to see his reaction to the news, and his reaction hadn't disappointed. Although, at least she thought, he had believed the news and not demanded evidence, that was one step better than her spectacle!

"How long has my little Edward William Crawley been in the world?" His eyes remain transfixed on his son as a tiny hand appears from the blanket and he reaches out a hand to run his thumb over the tiniest fingers he's ever seen. Cora watches in awe as Robert watches his son and she can't help but be delighted that she's finally given him a little son.

"About half an hour. I would have sent for you sooner but the doctor wished to do some checks on us both immediately, to do with my age he said. And O'Brien wanted me to be comfortable so she changed the bed and my clothes before bringing me some sandwiches. She and the doctor have urged me to rest as soon as possible."

"Quite, how are you feeling, really?" For the first time he lifts his gaze from Edward to Cora and she smiles at him, relieved to finally see his smile. He's happy, thank goodness she muses, that's what matters.

"Exhausted, but terribly, terribly happy." He smiles at her grinning face and for the first time notices the tiredness marred on her face.

"He's wonderful." He stokes his little son's cheek and can't help but imagine a smile from the small movement of his lips, he turns his attention back to Cora. "But, I think he would agree with me when I say that it takes an _extraordinary_ woman to bring such a wonderful person into the world." He kisses her then, and taking her entirely by surprise she gasps at his contact, his tongue already easing her lips apart, she obliges him and relishes in the loving gesture of their mouths for a moment before he breaks their contact. She shifts a little and looks up into his expectant face, he knows what coming.

"Would you like to hold him?" She doesn't wait for his answer before lifting little Edward carefully into his arms.

"Well, you're a heavy chap aren't you." She giggles at Robert's cooing voice, she'd missed that, the last time she'd heard that was eighteen years ago. Robert shakes his head at her chuckle and turns his attention back to Edward. His eyes arrest him for the first time, it had been difficult to assess them, to really decide who's eyes he had, but now with the light shining clearly on them, he sees a pair of fine blue eyes he's seen before. A blue that has captured his attention for years, they are the blue of Cora's eyes. A startling shade they had always been but they were even more so framed in the tiny face of Edward. "He has your eyes."

"Yes." She had wondered how long it would take him to notice that point. "Not quite the little son with your eyes and hazelnut hair that I'd dreamed of."

"No, but nor is he the male version of his wonderful mother as I had hoped. It seems he does have the hazelnut hair you dreamed of." The little tufts of hair upon his head are really quite adorable he thinks.

"The best of both worlds. I already see him turning heads as a young man." Robert laughs.

"Cora darling, one day at a time. He's not been in the world an hour yet. I think I should go down and fetch the others, they'll be anxious."

"Actually, I asked the doctor to tell them, and the servants. I told him it was because I was too tired and that was what he should tell them. But, really, I just wanted to spend tonight alone, just the three of us."

"As you wish my darling. As you know my wish will forever be your command." She rolls her eyes.

"Edward is in the world now darling, I'm no longer pregnant I think you can drop your little catch phrase."

"I'd rather not, I rather like it. You deserve me to pamper you, particularly after today."

"Don't make it sound as though you did nothing. You did get me pregnant in the first place, which if I remember correctly was a more pleasurable experience that giving birth." Her lips find his again in a quick loving kiss before she settles down beside him and her little Edward. Her heart finally content, finally full, she drifts to sleep.


	14. One day: Tom

AN: A few things to note today, firstly I've rather broken my own rules here by giving Tom a chapter, he's not an upstairs character at this point but I figured he's going to be, so, yeah. Equally it was simpler to use an outside character for this scene, as you may realise as you begin to read it.

Secondly, some of you already know, due to popular request there is going to be a sequel to this story (although this is not the last chapter) following series 2 with the addition of little Edward: what would have stayed the same, what would have changed? That won't be up for a while though but in the meantime, when this story is finished I have a story of young Cobert, first year of marriage stuff! Anyway, hope you enjoy this.

* * *

Tom strolled towards Lady Grantham's bedroom, mildly annoyed that he was having to fetch the items the doctor had forgotten, but he supposed that was his job and the poor doctor had been awake for most of the previous day and half the night. As he neared the bedroom he hears the sound of hushed voices within. He knocks gently on the door and he hears her Ladyship's call of 'come in.'

"I'm very sorry m'lady." He'd almost started at the sight before him, the whole family were gathered in Lady Grantham's bedroom. She sat on the bed, reclined against the pillows, her husband by her side. Lady Mary holds the little bundle of blankets that can only be Master Crawley, Lady Edith and Lady Sybil stand beside her, leaning over her shoulders desperate for a look at their baby brother. Mrs Crawley and the Dowager sit on the chairs by the dressing table. "Doctor Clarkson left a couple of things and I offered to come and fetch them."

"Of course, go ahead Mr Branson." Tom doesn't need telling twice, he strides to the other side of the room where he can see various instruments have been left on a little table, as he slowly collects the things together he can't help but hear the conversation happening around him.

"You're very heavy aren't you little brother?" It's Lady Mary that coos to the baby.

"Yes, he's quite a fidget too." Lady Grantham laughs at the strange character trait she's already picked up on.

"He gets that from his mother, who fidgets no end at night as she tries to fall to sleep." Lord Grantham's affectionate voice murmurs a little too loudly for only his wife's ears. Tom doesn't need to turn around to see the blush that flushes Lady Grantham's cheeks or the eye rolling that he is sure exists on all the others faces, he knows his employers well enough to know that this scene he has imagined is the one currently displayed behind him.

"Have you decided on a name?" It's Mrs Crawley's clear voice that enters the awkward silence of the room.

"Yes, we have." Tom smiles at the thought of Lord and Lady Grantham discussing names for their little baby. His thoughts are quickly interrupted by the Dowager's voice that cuts sharply into the room, coated with irritation.

"Well, it wasn't exactly difficult. I know for a fact William features and no doubt Cora you vouched for the name Robert?"

"How did you know William would play a part?" Tom raises his eyebrows at Her Ladyship's question, so similar to the one penetrating his thoughts, but why is she asking it?

"Since the day Robert could talk he always said he wished to call his first born son William." Tom hears rather than sees the tiny sobs of someone behind him and a quick glance over his shoulder confirms his prediction. Her Ladyship has bowed her head and sobs quietly, Lord Grantham has a look of pure anger on his face.

"Mama, we haven't decided to call him William."

"So, let me guess, Cora chose it?" The Dowager's firm voice makes Robert climb from the bed and Tom can't help but notice the slight protective stance he holds as he stands between his mother and his wife. "You give in too easily you know. I know how much you wished him to be called William. But, no, you give into Cora, you're American wife, on the _name of your son. Your heir." _ Her voice has become a shout and Tom stands stranded on one side of the room nobody taking any notice of him as the mother and son stare at each other, both fuming. The little boy in Lady Mary's arms begins to wail at the sound of his grandmothers raised voice and Lady Grantham reaches out for him. When her eldest daughter transfers the baby to her arms she rocks him from side to side her attention on nothing but the baby, but Tom notes the glazed over expression on her face as she sings softly, Lady Grantham is deep in thought.

"That is quite enough!" His Lordship's voice vibrates of the walls of the room. "I changed my mind, that is all. Cora said a name I liked that I had never thought of before."

"Let me guess, the name is some dreadful-"

"I've told you Mama, that is enough. You have no right to tell me what I should name my son." Tom steps hesitantly towards the door the strange medical instruments in his hands.

"I do. I'm your mother. He's your grandson the heir to _our_ dynasty." Tom stops at the foot of the bed as Lord Grantham takes a dangerous step towards his mother, his eyes flashing with anger, obscuring Tom's path. From behind him a voice he finds as sweet as honey speaks calmly into the tense atmosphere.

"But Granny, I don't think that means you can tell Mama what to name her son, you're not her mother."

"Your mother is not important, she's _not_ a Crawley." Before Tom realises what has happened he's got Lord Grantham pressed firmly against the wall his body blocking him from attacking his mother. He increases the pressure of his hold on the powerful man he holds as Lord Grantham thrashes against his hold in a desperate attempt to take his anger out on his mother. When the older man realises he can't break Tom's hold his abuse only continues through his voice.

"How dare you?! Get out, now! You have no right to insult Cora in that way, absolutely none. You have no idea what it is to be a mother, you hardly spent any time with Rosamund and I; you never fed us yourself or really knew any of the interests either of us had. Whereas, Cora is an excellent mother, she weans her own children and spends hours and hours with them every day, or had that point escaped your notice when I was away at war? She played with the girls, read to them, she used to teach them things. She knew about them. _She knew who they were_. _She knows who they are._ You don't really have any idea what it's like having a son or daughter, you know what it's like to have a child that you leave with other people for the whole day and then see for less than hour a day. That's different. Totally different." Tom eases his hold on the man as his voice calms and the Dowager stares blankly into her lap, the words obviously hitting a heart string. As he walks back over to pick up the dropped medical instruments he's surprised to feel a pat on his back and a whispered 'thank you.' The former from Lady Edith the latter from the honey sweet voice he is quickly becoming aware he likes too much.

"What is the name you've decided on then?" Lady Mary's emotionless voice breaks through the chasm in the room.

"Edward."

"No." Tom swings around as quickly as the family members at the strong, decisive, yet mouselike voice that comes from the Lady of the house. "The first name you said to me was William, and I should have realised then it was because it had always lived in your mind. We should call him William." She speaks only to her husband and Tom watches as Lord Grantham frowns before climbing carefully onto the bed next to his wife, his eyes never leaving hers.

"But, then you said Edward and I knew that my son would have been William. But this little chap is _not my son_, he's _our_ son and _our son is Edward William Crawley_." Tom watches as he kisses her gently on the forehead and he moves to the door as Lord Grantham's lips dance before his wife's, the lady hesitating with such an audience. As Tom slips silently from the room he takes one last liberty and glances at Lady Sybil where she stands conveniently facing away from her kissing parents. If only, he thinks, I could find a woman I admire as much as Lady Sybil with whom I could have the loving relationship of Lord and Lady Grantham.


	15. One month: Cora

Cora stood with her little one month old Edward, her little miracle, peacefully sleeping in her arms as she gazed out onto the snow covered grounds. The tree with the bench beneath was laid heavy with snow and sparkling white, no green to be seen. Beneath the tree however were muddy smudges of greys, browns and greens where her family had walked on the cold winter mornings desperate for some air. Amongst the footprints were much smaller ones, at first glance they could be a child's but Cora knew they belonged to Isis. The paw prints of Isis kept Cora's mind at rest, they reminded her that for the moment Robert was still here, still with her. She knew that her time with him was running low, she knew without a doubt that some time in the next few weeks he would nervously approach her saying that he had something he needed to tell her, and Cora was well aware the news was only going to bring her heartache, but what could she do? Robert wished to defend his country, he wished to defend his family as he'd done before, she was well aware there was nothing she could do or say that would change his mind.

A flash of dark movement alerting her to somebody walking makes her turn her attention back to the snowy scene. Her three daughters had obviously been strolling slowly along the path, the sudden flash had been Sybil running off into the snow and Cora laughed as she bundled a handful of the sludge in her hands and threw it towards her sisters. She notes Mary's posture of mild annoyance when the icy substance lands squarely on her hat knocking it to the ground before her eldest daughter, a look of vengeance no doubt masked on her face, lobs a handful of the snow towards her youngest sister. Cora laughs as Edith joins the fray and snow flies in all directions, it reminds her of similar winters when the girls had been little and her and Robert had taken them out in the snow. The sad thing was, Cora mused, at the time when the girls were little she had always thought they'd be married by the age they are now, perhaps not Sybil being only just eighteen, but at the very least Mary and yet here they were in the middle of a war, she had no doubt Robert was about to go and join, and Mary wasn't married. In fact the man she loved was fighting that very war. Cora knew Mary was still shaken up over what had happened with Matthew and she was well aware that Mary's silly remarks about her having made the right choice because Matthew had lost his inheritance to Edward was just a cover up for the feelings she was trying to repress. Cora had heard from Matthew since giving birth to little Edward, he had heard the news and had agreed to take the inheritance Cora had offered him but he'd been strict that she wasn't to tell her daughters, particularly not Mary. It was obvious then, that he still had feelings for her.

She hears the door click open behind her and turns to face Robert who strides across the room dropping his hat and coat onto the chair as he does so, before planting a kiss squarely on her temple. He stands behind her, his hands resting on her hips as he leans over to admire Edward.

"How's he doing this morning?"

"Very well, he's feed and he's just drifted back to sleep in the last few minutes. Have you seen what the girls are doing?" She nods towards the window and Robert steps around her as she lowers little Edward back into the crib that sits in the corner of her bedroom. She knew it wasn't customary to have her baby sleeping in her bedroom, but then it was not customary for her to breast feed and wean her own child. She had done the same with all the girls and she saw no point in breaking the tradition. Robert had remained happy with the idea, although Cora was well aware the sleepless nights were not his favourite part of having a baby in the house again. Robert chuckles and she moves to stand beside him again, he adjusts his position to stand behind her and wrap his arms around her and she's unsurprised when she feels his chin on top of her head as he gazes out across the gardens. The silence that envelopes them is strange and Cora feels for the first time in a very long time that it's an awkward silence.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you." She is pleased he can't see her face as he speaks the words for Cora is sure her face falls, the moment she's been dreading. She takes a deep, slow, steadying breath.

"I know you want to go. I won't stop you. I'll miss you yes, but I won't stop you." He gently kisses the top of her head and because she can't see the smile that creeps up at the corners of his mouth she takes the kiss as one of forgiveness. A kiss that says he's thankful she's being so understanding and that he'll strive to come home to her.

"I wrote to the war office again, the day you were in labour. I asked to take back my previous statement in which I'd volunteered. Cora, I realised that I couldn't leave you. Not so soon after you've given birth. Besides, I don't want to miss little Edward growing up, I don't want to miss the first time he laughs and the first time he does this or that. I remember it all so vividly with the girls, and I loved it. This is my, our, last chance to experience those things and I don't want to miss it." She feels the tears on her cheeks before she feels them in the corners of her eyes. The relief is a strange, guilty relief. She's knows that she shouldn't be allowed to have all the luck, the son in her forties and a husband who decides he wishes to stay at home and not defend his country. She knows it bad to be so happy when men are dying every day, other women are losing their husbands all the time but she can't stop the tears. She turns slowly in his arms and before she's aware of what has happened she feels his lips press against hers. His tongue dancing between her lips, when she parts them slightly she's relieved that he doesn't hesitate in finding her tongue that is more than ready to dance with his. When he has seemingly devoured her mouth and all her coherent thoughts a moment later, she gasps for air. No doubt,she ponders, it's a good thing they stopped, it was still a few weeks until the doctor had said they could be intimate again and she was already struggling a little with having to wait, such kisses were hardly going to help her keep her calm. As her breathing and her thoughts recover she looks into his shining eyes, surprised to see tears there.

"I'm sure the war office were a little angry at that, a man changing his mind."

"Not particularly, it seems they didn't want me anyway. Too old or something, no doubt you agree." The twinkle in his eyes makes Cora smile, it seemed the thought of being unwanted hadn't affected him too much.

"Too old for active service yes, but for other things I think not. There are plenty of things I can think of that you are just as good at, if not better at, than when we first married." She feels the blush warm her cheeks and she looks at his chest, the pattern on his tie highly intricate.

"And what might those other things be?"

"Well," she traces a finger over his tie desperate to keep her eyes from the gaze she can feel is hot on her head. "I have just had your son you know, I think that makes you rather good at persuading me to do naughty things."

"Naughty things you say. And _I_ persuading _you_." His warm laughs echoes over her head and his breath tickles in her hair. "If I remember correctly, there was a lot of you suggesting naughty things or asking for naughty things and even when I said no you used cunning methods to persuade me." Cora blushes fiercely at memories of the hot, sensuous nights they'd spent together in London and even in the weeks before their departure for Grantham house. She remembers how on all the occasions, excluding very few, she had been the one to instigate the situation, she'd been the first to make a move.

"I don't remember any cunning methods." She looks up into his face, a challenge in her eyes but she drops her eyelashes the moment he looks down at her.

"You don't? What about the selection of new nightwear you purchased for yourself? Or the way you'd lie down close to me as if to sleep before kissing my neck and running your little hands over my chest beneath my shirt. Then, there was the night you had a late bath and walked into the room dripping wet."

"You sound as if you don't like it when I'm cunning darling."

"Quite the contrary my darling, I can assure you." His mouth dances before hers again and she's about to bring his lips to meet his impatient ones despite the feeling in her stomach that says they are playing with fire, when Edward stirs in the crib behind him, a hearty cry piercing the winter air. She takes him from the crib and walking him to the window rocks him gently from side to side. He had made her smile earlier that morning when he'd cooed for the first time and she hoped she might manage to get him to do the same for Robert. The little blue eyes so like her own are eventually revealed to her after he has rubbed them a little with his tiny hands but the eyes don't gaze at her as they had that morning but at the face just to the right of hers, Robert's.

"Is that Papa Edward? He's come to see you my little one. Are you going to be a good little boy and coo for Papa?" She reaches over and gently rubs his cheek as she had that morning hoping that it might cause him to coo. As expected his mouth opens and a gurgle emerges, as does some of the milk from his last feed, she daubs the latter away with a little blanket she keeps on hand. His little lips stay slightly parted as his eyes remain fixed on his father's, he coos a little more convincingly when Robert rubs a finger over his cheek. She turns to look at Robert and is relieved to find that he is as enthralled as she by their little miracle.

"He's so wonderful. And those eyes, I think that's why he's so wonderful, he has the eyes of his mother. And his mother is really quite wonderful, beyond wonderful in fact." She feels his hand run up and down her back and she looks back down at Edward in an attempt to hide how touched she is at what Robert says. "I love you Cora, very much." He presses a kiss to the side of her head.

"I love you too. Always."


	16. Two months: Robert

AN: Two things to note today, the first is to the guest reviewer, who left the name Evie when she reviewed chapter 14. As much as in normal circumstances I tend to agree with your point that Robert would not threaten his mother as I showed in chapter 14, this is not a normal circumstance. He would have had little sleep in the couple of days before this lashing out, and in his anger to defend Cora is likely to lose his temper and push further than he ought, or normally would. Equally he wouldn't have gone the full way, Tom only lunches for him as a safety net as it were, to make sure nothing happens, Robert shows by calming down quite quickly that he realises his mistake. I hope that covers your comment.

My second note, is just a massive thank you to everyone who's viewed, liked, favourited and reviewed this story, in all those categories it's the most I've ever had and you've all made my exams a lot easier to bear from your comments etc...and well, I love doing this, I love these two characters and I'm pleased so many of you have shown an anticipation for the sequel, so, thank you. Enjoy!

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Robert took the stairs two at a time as he raced to meet Cora. It wasn't really that he was meeting her, more that this was how the last few weeks had played out, she would wake and deal with Edward before dressing and getting ready for her day at which point he would join her just before she came downstairs. Believe it or not, which he couldn't, Edward was now two months old, the time had flown. He was more convinced with every day that passed that he had done the right thing in staying at home rather than going to the front, not, he conceded that it mattered, they hadn't wanted him anyway. At first the insult had hurt rather a lot and he waited a whole month before telling Cora for that reason but from the moment he'd told her he didn't feel so worthless or useless. The way she'd kissed him had reminded him of what was really important, his family and his wife. And he had been offered his position as Lord Lieutenant so he'd be able to do his part, even if it was only honorary. Little Edward had continued to make it easy for him to forget the trauma of being unwanted, every day he did something new, stretched a little further, cooed a little longer and now that he was well into his second month of life he and Cora were determined to make him laugh. They'd been sitting in bed every night, Edward on one of their laps pulling funny faces. He cooed at length and they'd very almost got a giggle from him the night before but Cora had been technical and only classed it as a gurgle. Robert had at the time documented it as a giggle but he knew that Cora was right, it was really just a gurgle, but they were getting there.

As he turns the knob and enters Cora's bedroom he finds her, as usual stood by the window gazing out onto the grounds. She turns at his presence and greets him with a warm smile. He almost bounds to her side and kisses her perfect lips.

"Morning darling, how are you? You were still asleep when I left this morning and I didn't want to wake you." Edward had been getting better at sleeping through the night recently so he and Cora had got a little carried away in bed the night before, not falling asleep until late, only for Edward to have a rather restless night, waking soon after they had just dozed off. The long and the short of it was Cora had been up for a large part of the night and had still been fast asleep when he'd risen.

"I'm fine, still a little tired but I wouldn't change last night for the world." It fills him with pride that Cora still enjoys his attentions. Although, he muses, that was how Edward came into being, because they enjoyed each other's attentions.

"I'm very pleased to hear that my dear, although, I didn't think being up all night with a wailing son was your favourite way to spend the small hours of the morning."

"No? What did you think my favourite way to pass that time was then darling, do enlighten me." The twinkle in her eyes as she turns in his arms and the hint of sarcasm in her voice makes him smile. Careful not to crush their dozing son who lays carefully in Cora's arms he leans forward and kisses her nose.

"Well, I thought that maybe you enjoyed sleeping in that time."

"Sleeping is quite peaceful I grant you, but some more powerful and all consuming emotions are usually what I desire in those hours if I don't desire sleep." He shakes his head at the blush that covers her cheeks and the way she lowers her eyes from his to adjust, the already perfectly positioned, blanket around Edward, as she speaks her thoughts out loud, even after all these years it amazes him that she feels insecure and embarrassed about talking of such things. He tilts her face back up to face him.

"Cora, you don't have to be embarrassed about talking about what you like and how you feel about us being together."

"I know, I just, I sometimes worry what you might think of me. It's different in the dark when you've been kissing me out of this world for what feels like hours on end, somehow the mixture of the dark and the need takes away the fear. But in broad daylight when we are just teasing each other I find it awkward." He presses a kiss to her temple then another to her nose before trailing a pattern to her lips. He's relieved to find her willing to let his tongue dance blissfully with hers and when he's sure she will be quite breathless he breaks his lips from hers, he rather likes the sensation of watching her gasp for air, knowing that it is he that has got her in such a state. Sure enough, her chest rises and falls rapidly, Edward rocking up and down as well and it takes some time for her breathing pattern to recover.

"Cora, trust me when I tell you I will always think very highly of you and I will always love you. Without fail, nothing you can say will put me off. Besides, it is nice to know whether the lady I desire so very much desires me also."

"I always desire you darling, you know that." The blush still stains her cheeks but Robert at least thinks she is a little less shy then she was a moment before. Edward stretches in her arms as Robert steps a little further away from Cora thinking that he might be squashing the poor chap. He moves to stand behind Cora, dropping two kisses in the top of her head. Edward stretches again and this time one perfect piercing blue eyes steals into Robert's vision. The same eye that twenty four years ago had stolen into his vision and he'd lost himself in ever since. The difference was in Cora he found the blue intoxicating and he was forever losing himself in their depths, with Edward they were simply mesmerising. They complimented his hazelnut curls that Cora adored so much whereas in Cora they jumped out from her pale skin and dark hair, they were like stars. In Edward they blended perfectly but remained mesmerising.

He stretches his legs and his arms wiggle their way from beneath the blanket and one raises to his eye and rubs once. Robert watches as his hands flex from tiny little fists to splaying the fingers as far as the dear boy can manage. Cora slips one of her fingers in between his tiny ones and Robert watches Edward bend his fingers around the obstruction. Cora starts cooing to him in what Robert has always called her 'baby voice,' it's a voice he loves rather a lot, mixed with her American accent, that he always loves anyway, it sends little shivers down his spine. He plants a stray kiss on her neck and grins against her skin when he feels the warmth rise up her neck and into her cheeks. Robert sees Edward watching him and sticks his tongue out, something that had succeeded in making all the girls gurgle and then giggle as baby's. Cora even found the face he pulled funny, the first time he'd done it for Mary she'd laughed herself so silly she'd had tears rolling down her cheeks, her breaths a struggle and her chest rising so fast as she gasped for air Robert had been worried she'd have some kind of heart attack.

Edward parts his lips at the funny face and blinks adoringly at Robert but no sound comes from him. Cora strokes his cheeks gently, something they'd quickly worked out made him coo. He begins to do so and Cora starts to sing a song she rather likes which often makes him gurgle as though he's trying to make his mouth move like his mother's. Sure enough he begins to gurgle and a little of his morning feed runs onto his lips. Robert quickly wipes it away with the little cloth Cora has for the purpose and returns to pulling faces as Cora sings. Nothing seems to work and they finish the song without Edward doing more than gurgle a little more.

"Oh Edward, you are keeping us waiting aren't you my darling. Um, why won't you giggle for Mama and Papa. We love you so very much you know." Cora's 'baby voice' filters through Robert's ears as he tries to remember other ways in which he'd made his daughters laugh.

"Might I hold him?" Cora passes Edward to Robert and although he can partially hold his head it's not a permanent thing so he supports his head with one hand and his legs with the other before rocking him out in front of him and back towards him again being careful to keep his head higher than his legs. Robert is relieved that he doesn't cry and the gurgles continue. As Robert gradually lifts a Edward higher and higher in front of him at each swing the gurgles get more pronounced and when he holds him at the highest point he can and pulls his silly face an unmistakeable sound comes from their little miracle. Edward giggles, it's very short but it's a giggle. The giggle is quickly followed by Cora's squeal of delight and when he holds Edward properly in his arms again he's unsurprised at how quickly Cora moulds herself against his side, her finger stoking Edward's cheek.

"Oh darling, that was amazing." Robert only knows he is the one being addressed because she uses her normal voice, rather than her baby one. "I love you Robert, very much."

"I love you too. Always." His lips meet hers as tears spring at the corners of both their eyes.


End file.
